Andor – Narkina review S1 E8

Cassian Andor was not the kind of guy who was going to eagerly join the Rebellion unprompted. He had a healthy distrust of them and like most of the smarter people in the galaxy kept his head down and out of their way. Narkina shows exactly what it would take to take a man who was only used to looking out for self and shift his focus to the greater good.

Keeping that in mind, Andor continues to add more weight to the events of Rogue One. That’s considered the best of the Disney-era films and the show is exploring — and showing — in greater detail why the Empire must fall.

This was another episode with a lot of subplots juggling for attention. Cassian’s remains the most fascinating, but there’s a number of strong secondary plots playing out.

That doesn’t include Dedra and Syril. Yes, the plot needs to get her focused on Cassian’s trail, but the showrunners are making her almost a hero for her dogged focus in stopping this threat to the Empire and unwillingness to buckle before the men trying to hold her down.

Compare Dedra’s arc to Syril. Syril strutted around like he owned his office, was a little shook in battle and has been stewing and pouting ever since. In his new gig, he’s trying to find Cassian to avenge his fallen corporate security officers. Dedra breaks every rule and is dismissive to everyone making her an extremely exhausting character.

On Coruscant, Mon Mothma is navigating the very delicate political minefield to provide funding assistance for the Rebellion. It says a lot that she can’t trust her husband although her daughter seems a bit suspicious in her own right. At least Mon has Tay to have her back and funnel the money through various channels.  Genevieve O’Reilly is killing it as the operative hiding in plain sight of the Imperial wolves and sycophants, politely smiling and charming everyone so no one suspects her of anything.

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Back at Ferrix, Maarva is not doing well. Her health has deteriorated, and Bix is rightfully concerned she doesn’t have much longer. While she isn’t clamoring for his return, she knows Cassian would want to know.

Vel and Cinta are keeping an eye on Bix assuming she will eventually lead them to Cassian. It seems like Vel is over all the deception and running around, but Cinta reminds her that the Rebellion comes first before anything else, including each other. This has been an impressively understated romance without needless self-congratulations for being inclusive.

Bix tries to get a message to Luthen to relay to Cassian, but Kleya is against it. While Luthen has sway over many in the galaxy, it seems like he always defers to Kleya’s demands. He ventures off to another planet, ditches the hair pieces and tries to negotiate a proposal with Saw Gerrera to align with another anti-Empire faction.

Saw isn’t game and wants no part of any alliance. Clearly, assembling all these factions and working on the same page is going to be tough for Luthen. Interestingly, Saw is in pretty decent condition suggestion he’s yet to have the near fatal accident that leaves him as much a cyborg as a man.

Even attempting to get word out has consequences as Dedra’s forces round up Cassian’s allies, including Bix. So what about Cassian?

He’s experiencing the worst vacation ever. Clearly my man needed to call UberEats for that market run. Maybe then he would have avoided getting caught in the Imperial prison system for six years.

Prisoner life is miserable. Cassian might have the least amount of dialogue of any of the main characters, but Diego Luna conveys so much with his expressions. Whether exhaustion, fear, terror, apprehension, etc. you get a sense of how Cassian is feeling in any circumstance. He’s assigned in the labor department under the command of prisoner Kino Loy (Andy Serkis).

Kino is a short-timer and doesn’t want anyone screwing up his freedom. Sounds fair. Another inmate is for true Easter Egg hunters with Melshi (Duncan Pow), who is part of the Rogue One squadron that joins Jyn Erso and Cassian to retrieve the Death Star plans. Is this the beginning of their partnership?

The best aspects of this episode is how bleak this scenario is for Cassian. There’s no hope — new or otherwise. Just as interesting, there’s no trace of a spark of defiance ready to ignite to become a hero of the Rebellion. Cassian is resigned to keeping his head down and play out his prison sentence.

Andor is the guide to creating a Rebellion from the ground up. It isn’t always pretty and episodes like Narkina show why that hope is so vital to restoring true peace to the galaxy.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Photo Credit: Disney